A stray quoted from David Crosby: "These songs kept coming. So I quit smoking pot. I know, its shocking. But I think if the muse is going to stop by that often, I want to have the doors open and the lights on. ... I'll get back to it I'm sure."

Anyway... I was never a Crosby, Stills and Nash fan. I held them responsible for wussifying rock and roll. (I liked Neil Young though. And I loved Crosby as a Byrd, and I was fine with Stills in Buffalo Springfield, and had no problem with The Hollies.)

But this song "Page 43." I didn't know it. Listened to (half of) it here. And then I got distracted by the existence of a Snopes article on the song. What's the controversy? Is it a reference to the New Testament?

Look around again
It's the same old story
You see, it's got to be
It says right here on page 43
That you should grab ahold of it
Else you'll find
It's passed you by

Answer: False! Crosby was once asked if it was page 43 of any specific book, which would be helpful to Crosbyites who'd been checking page 43 of various different books, and why don't you pause for a sec and find something on page 43 or your nearest book?

Here, I'll do it: "When I found I loved to teach I swore that I would not become that cold, rigid automaton that I had encountered as a child. Now, I was not unconscious that it was given me to err on the other side." Ha ha.

Back to Crosby. He said:

A. No. As a matter of fact, some very peculiar things happened with people saying [in a low whisper], "Page 43. Yeah. I read that too. I know that nobody else knows, but that was really far out." [Laughter] And I'm thinking, "Yeah! What book are you thinking about?" "The Kaballah!" [Laughter] You have no idea which page 43 they're absolutely sure that I'm talking about. But they're sure.

Q: One guy told me he was absolutely sure it was page 43 of the New Testament.

A: The New Testament. See, that's the one I didn't read. I read the Old Testament. [Laughs] You know, Zap Comix, Issue 28. It could be anything. And they're sure. And they come up to you in a very conspiratorial way and say, "Page 43, yeah, I got it, man."

It's so easy to laugh when you're "under the influence," as Crosby said he was. He was "was under the influence... of James Taylor." Talk about responsibility for the wussification of rock and roll. That James Taylor was strong stuff.

I went to Paul's funeral, and met Billy Shears. He could really thump the bass, and played a ripping lead guitar, but in a way, he wasn't as pretty as Paul was. You have to take the good with the bad. I wrote about this on page 43 of my Beatles tour photo book.

The chance that smoking something would have a good effect on the sense of smell is vanishingly small. I'm not an alternative medicine type. Why not just try everything in case something might have a positive effect?

And I'm not big on the medical bullshit around marijuana. Let people decide for themselves why they want to use it, including to make music sound better or jokes seem funnier.

As I have explained before, I favor the legalization of marijuana precisely because I think human beings need substances that cause disinhibition. The most important use of disinhibition is to help us laugh at authority figures.

"... friend Graham Nash insisted Sunday that (Joni Mitchell) was doing "much, much better." He dedicated "Our House" to her Sunday, and encouraged the crowd to sing along "so Joni could hear," a request the audience gladly obliged."

The chance that smoking something would have a good effect on the sense of smell is vanishingly small. I'm not an alternative medicine type. Why not just try everything in case something might have a positive effect?

And I'm not big on the medical bullshit around marijuana.

Pot is not "everything," but rather, a substance that is known to enhance or intensify the senses for many people. The legality issue, or just not wanting to be "stoned," might be good reasons not to try it.

I don't agree with the "wussification" accusation. Stills and Young are two of the most talented rock musicians of that generation. I think Stills is vastly unappreciated. Having Nash along for the ride mellowed them a lot -- he's probably most responsible for what Althouse sees as wussification. But Nash's firs solo album (Songs for Beginners) is really good.

My first encounter with David Crosby was in the summer of '64 at The New Balladeer, a coffee house in Santa Monica, CA. He play acoustic 12-string guitar (with open-d tuning...madAsHell) and sang passionate, heart rending love songs, as well as, the first version of Hey Joe I ever heard (and still the best, in MHO).

I became a huge fan and still am today. And, because of David Crosby, I was able to meet Bob Dylan...but that's another story for another day.

Anyway... I was never a Crosby, Stills and Nash fan. I held them responsible for wussifying rock and roll.

What's notable about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is how Republican they were in their outlook. They would sing a song about raising children. They would sing a song about buying a house. It's like a rebuttal to hippie horseshit. I liked that about them, even when I was a kid, that they zigged conservative when the whole culture is zagging the other way. And of course Young brought a radical fire to the group, too. I'm a huge fan of Neil Young.

And harmonies are always awesome, in my book. From Simon and Garfunkel to Peter, Paul and Mary, if the harmony is beautiful, I dig it.

As I have explained before, I favor the legalization of marijuana precisely because I think human beings need substances that cause disinhibition. The most important use of disinhibition is to help us laugh at authority figures.

Their early records were all listenable, and I bought them. I thought some of the fare was bubble-gum, but it didn't creep me out too far.

Their last album was Autoamerican, which was cool, because they did one song in each genre. She even did this unknown crap called Rap music, which being before its time, was actually listenable and funny "Now he only eats guitars!"

After Autoamerican, they were all tapped-out junkies and the records were merely contractual fodder.

All this talk about smoking marijuana makes me want to tell people, that smoking dope today, is nothing like smoking dope in the 60's.

It would take you a whole bag of dope in Portland in 1969 to get high. We used to smoke a whole bag at parties and even then we'd have to switch to wine or malt liqueur.

Today, it's good shit. My daughter gave me one of her joints a few years ago, and it knocked me on my ass. No shit, I asked her if she dipped it in PCP "what??" OK, that was just dope? "yea-ah??"

Holy shit, we used to have to smoke hash, or dip the joint in PCP just to get half that high...

I'm telling you, it's good shit right now, but even still... I'm a sipper. I don't like getting knocked on my ass, I want to enjoy myself. Food, sex, warm water on my nipples, all these things mean more to me than THC ripping my heart out.

I never liked that slow rock/folk music stuff. There's laid back, then there's laid back, and that AM music mostly creeped me out.

I wanted to hear bass in my lungs, and I wanted to hear the stratocaster in my liver. It had to make my toes hurt when I tried to touch the sky.

Yes, I love CSN w/ or w/o Y. There is a reason. I was part of choir group that toured Poland for 3 weeks in 1974, long before the Gdansk uprising. We were in youth hostel (university during the summer) in Krakow. Three members of our group had brought acoustic guitars and would play sessions covering CSNY and all the hostel guests would show up and have a great time. They probably came from a dozen different countries, mostly eastern bloc, all brought together to sing and listen to CSNY songs.

I went to a Sills & Young concert circa 1976 in Springfield, Ma. The smoke was so thick you could get high breathing deep. They did some acoustic, but Young got pissy when people wouldn't be quiet & refused to continue.

I stumbled across Stephen Stills'Manassas album a few years back and was just blown away by it. It held up very well for an album almost 40 years old at the time. If you haven't heard it, find it. Worth the listen.

Saint Croix said... What's notable about Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young is how Republican they were in their outlook. They would sing a song about raising children. They would sing a song about buying a house. It's like a rebuttal to hippie horseshit.

But there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn't make it out alive, and many of those deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day. Far more integrated into the scene than most would care to admit was a guy by the name of Charles Manson, along with his murderous entourage. Also floating about the periphery were various political operatives, up-and-coming politicians, and intelligence personnel - the same sort of people who just happened to give birth to many of the rock stars populating the canyon. And all of the canyon's colorful characters - rock stars, hippies, murderers, and politicos - happily coexisted alongside a covert military installation.

The author goes overboard in trying to fit all to his hypothesis. In trying to fit Peter Tork/Torkelson to this military/intellegence mold, he points out that Tork "like so many others in this story,hailed from Washington, DC." But Peter Tork spent only his first year of life in DC, and his father requested for his memorial service,that instead of flowers,people contribute to a Marxist libary in Oakland. Not precisely what a military/intelligence operative would do.